Scandal

Raw Story reports: George Conway, the conservative attorney married to senior presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway, tweeted out a series of links that tie Donald Trump to accused child trafficker Jeffrey Epstein following the millionaire’s arrest. Epstein was taken into custody late Saturday night for allegedly sex trafficking dozens of minors in New York and Florida between 2002 and 2005 and …

Reuters reports: The former governor of Rio de Janeiro state said in court testimony on Thursday that he paid $2 million (1.59 million pounds) to buy votes to ensure the sprawling Brazilian seaside city would be chosen to host the 2016 Olympic Games. Sergio Cabral told a judge the money went to Lamine Diack, the former president of the International …

Politico reports: Defense lawyers for Rep. Duncan Hunter appeared to concede Friday that he carried on extramarital affairs with several women, but alleged that much of his related spending of campaign funds was legitimate because he was “mixing business with pleasure.” With Hunter (R-Calif.) facing a federal criminal trial on 60 felony charges that he repeatedly spent campaign money on …

The Miami Herald reports: Jerry Falwell Jr., 57, who took over the mantel of Liberty University following the death of his father, the Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr., has denied the suggestion that in 2015 he sought help from Michael Cohen, who told actor Tom Arnold in a surreptitiously taped conversation that he embarked on a mission to recover “personal” photographs …

ABC News reports: A former youth leader was arrested Wednesday for lewd and lascivious molestation, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. Matuszek is the owner/operator of Chick-fil-A at Westfield Countryside mall in Clearwater. Detectives say between August 2014 and April 2015 Heather Matuszek, 32, inappropriately touched an underage girl who was in her youth group at the Clearwater Community …

San Diego’s Fox affiliate reports: Rep. Duncan Hunter’s wife, who pleaded not guilty last summer along with her husband to charges of using more than $250,000 in campaign funds for their personal use, changed her plea to guilty in a hearing Thursday morning. Attorneys for Margaret read a brief statement outside the courthouse after the hearing. She said in part: …

The New York Times reports: Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, accepted a plea bargain on Wednesday morning and will pay about $15,000 in fines and restitution to settle accusations that she misused about $100,000 in public funds in managing the couple’s official residence. Prosecutors said that Ms. Netanyahu, whom they charged with fraud, had …

The Bridgewater Courier News reports: A Presbyterian minister, who said he was following the Bible, used Native American exorcism rituals, gemstones and even oral sex to extract “evil spirits” from men undergoing crises in their lives, the church and men claim. The so-called healing acts, which date to 1999, were allegedly performed by the Rev. Dr. William Weaver, a prominent …

The Washington Post reports: In the years before he was ousted for alleged sexual harassment and financial abuses, the leader of the Catholic Church in West Virginia gave cash gifts totaling $350,000 to fellow clergymen, including young priests he is accused of mistreating and more than a dozen cardinals in the United States and at the Vatican, according to church …

The Associated Press reports: When Cardinal Daniel DiNardo first met Laura Pontikes in his wood-paneled conference room in December 2016, the leader of the U.S. Catholic Church’s response to its sex abuse scandal said all the right things. He praised her for coming forward to report that his deputy in the Galveston-Houston archdiocese had manipulated her into a sexual relationship …

USA Today reports: A tentative deal is close to settling lawsuits brought against the television and film company co-founded by Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by scores of women. The amount of the deal wasn’t revealed in court, but a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press it was worth $44 million. The person …

NBC News reports: Federal prosecutors filed additional charges against high-profile attorney Michael Avenatti on Wednesday, claiming the frequent White House critic pocketed nearly $300,000 from former client Stormy Daniels. Daniels was owed money from a book deal and Avenatti allegedly used a “fraudulent document purporting to bear his client’s name and signature to convince his client’s literary agent to divert …

Michigan Live reports: State Rep. Larry Inman said he probably should have picked up the phone and called labor union representatives instead of sending texts that would later be part of a federal indictment alleging he solicited bribes. Inman, R-Traverse City, was indicted May 15 by federal prosecutors for attempted extortion, bribery and lying to an FBI agent. The indictment …

The Associated Press reports: A now-dead Ohio State team doctor sexually abused at least 177 male students over nearly two decades, and university officials knew what he was doing and did little to stop him, according to an investigative report released by the school Friday. Dr. Richard Strauss committed the abuse from 1979 to 1997 — nearly his entire time …

The Detroit Free Press reports: A state representative has been indicted by a federal grand jury, accused of trying to sell his vote on a measure to repeal Michigan’s prevailing wage law. Rep. Larry Inman, R-Traverse City, was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury in Grand Rapids, court records show. House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, called on Inman on …

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: Georgia Insurance Commissioner Jim Beck was accused today by a federal grand jury of stealing more than $2 million from his former employer. The 38-count indictment charges Beck, an ex-insurance lobbyist and long-time leader of the Georgia Christian Coalition, with fraud and money laundering in an elaborate scheme to defraud the Georgia Underwriting Association. With the …

The New York Times reports: A review of tax records by The New York Times shows that, to steady its finances, the powerful lobbying group has increasingly relied on cash infusions and other transactions involving its affiliated foundation — at least $206 million worth since 2010. The role of the foundation is among the issues being examined in a new …

NBC News reports: Actress Felicity Huffman tearfully pleaded guilty to federal charges Monday, admitting that she paid a fixer thousands of dollars to boost her daughter’s college admission hopes. Prosecutors said Huffman, 56, shelled out $15,000 to have wrong answers corrected on daughter Sofia Grace Macy’s SAT exam, leading to a remarkably improved score from the teen’s PSAT performance, prosecutors …

The Washington Post reports: A new documentary revealing cases of sexual abuse by priests has deeply shaken Poland, one of Europe’s most Roman Catholic societies, eliciting an apology from the church hierarchy and prompting one cleric to leave priestly life. “Tell No One,” a film financed through a crowdfunding campaign, was released on YouTube on Saturday. By Monday, the documentary …

Yesterday Reuters reported that Michael Cohen recorded a phone call with Jerry Falwell Jr. in which the evangelical leader pleaded for help in destroying “racy” personal photos that should be “kept between a husband and wife.” Cohen reportedly then flew to Florida where he met with a lawyer who supposedly handed over the photos for destruction, one of which Cohen …